1. Systems Engineering Beach Cities Robotics – Team 294 Andrew Keisic Dec 2008

2. Sources of Inspiration • “Systems Engineering” • Rick Roberts – Beach Bot – Team 330 • “How Useful is QFD?” • John L Sanford – Thunderhawks – Team 1038 • Special Thanks to • Ed Debler – Thunder Chickens – Team 217

3. Topics • Systems Engineering • BCR Design Process • Q & A 3 - Introduction / Agenda

4. The Internet Systems Engineering • How do you accomplish the following? • Where do you start?

5. Systems Engineering • How do you accomplish the following? • Where do you start?

6. Systems Engineering • Systems engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the development of large and complex systems, where a system is understood to be an assembly of combination of interrelated elements of parts working together toward a common objective. -University College London Building a robot is not an objective! Building a robot to move and pick up 3” cubes from the floor, store 5 internally and discharge them one at a time in goals ranging from 3” to 21” tall is!

7. Systems Engineering Verification System Design Preliminary Design Design Process Easy to fix Critical Design Fabrication Problems Integration & Testing Hard to fix Think and plan BEFORE you act!

8. BCR Design Process Quality Function Deployment • A scientific method to evaluate design and strategy • Pioneered by Yoji Akao at Mitsubishi

9. BCR Design Process • Watch the Kickoff Video • Read and Understand the Rules • Analyze the Game • Simulate the Game (Chess style) • Generate Task List • Determine Strategic Importance • Research and Discuss Proven Solutions • Brainstorm Whole Robot Concepts • Determine Concept Effectiveness of Tasks (ie Fill in Matrix) • Determine Top Design Concepts • Refine Top Design and Re-evaluate

10. BCR Design Process 1. Watch the Kickoff Video • How big is the field? • How many teams are playing? • What objects are on the field? • Can robots interact with other robots? • What general tasks do you need to perform? Objective: Have a basic understanding of the game

11. BCR Design Process 2. Read and Understand the Rules • In small groups, read the rules aloud • “Read” what the rules don’t say • If the rules don’t say, it’s legal • Discuss the rules • What can you do? • What can’t you do? • What is illegal? • Where are the gray areas? • What questions need to be elevated to the game designers? Objective: Understand all nuances of the rules

12. BCR Design Process 3. Analyze the Game • Determine the maximum score possible • Maximum autonomous score • Maximum tele op score • Determine importance – or lack thereof – of autonomous • Determine maximum capacity of goals or other game objects • Rank game piece by strategic importance • Brainstorm possible auto/beginning/middle/end game strategies • Create a list of scoring differential opportunities • Defense is a ‘scoring’ opportunity Objective: Determine most advantages scoring strategy

13. BCR Design Process 4. Simulate the Game (Chess Style) • Use robot analogues (you!) • Simulate autonomous period and teleop • Alternate turns between alliances and ‘robots’ • Red 1, Blue 1, Red 2, Blue 2, Red 3, Blue 3 and repeat • Each ‘turn’ simulates ~10-15 seconds of real time action • Picking up game objects counts as a turn • Blocking another robot counts as a turn and prevents the blocked robot’s next turn • Scoring one or more objects in one goal counts as a turn • Set realistic limitations • Can only store X game objects • Can or cannot descore game objects • Be creative and test out different strategies Objective: Dynamically test game strategies

14. BCR Design Process 5. Generate Task List • Generate the list as you simulate the game • Whenever someone does something new, write it down • Be specific when possible • List ‘Score in 21”goal’ instead of ‘Score in goal” • List ‘Shoot ball over overpass while in motion’ instead of ‘Toss over overpass’ • List ‘Drive over ‘rough’ terrain’ instead of ‘Drive across field’ • Simulating will not produce every task • Brainstorm after every simulation other possible tasks • List every task that comes to mind • Do not disregard an idea because you think it’s trivial Objective: List all possible tasks within the game

15. BCR Design Process 6. Determine Strategic Importance • Evaluate each task and assign it a weight • Scale 1 to 5 (1 = low; 5 = high) • Ensure the there is a good distribution of weights • 9 5’s, 3 4’s, 1 3’s, 2 2’s, and 5 1’s is not a good distribution • Obtain unanimous support • If done correctly, everyone should nod in agreement when completing this sentence… • If all we did was [read out the 5’s] then we would do well in the competition. IMPORTANT: Break after completion. Send everyone home to do the next 2 tasks as homework. Objective: Assign strategic importance to task list

16. BCR Design Process 7. Research and Discuss Proven Solutions • Find designs that manipulate similar objects well • Previous FIRST competitions • Common industrial application • Evaluate why they work well • Find designs that manipulated similar objects poorly • Previous FIRST competitions • Evaluate why they didn’t work well • Good resources… • www.chiefdelphi.com • www.vexrobotics.com Objective: Receive design inspiration and avoid common mistakes

17. BCR Design Process 8. Brainstorm Whole Robot Concept • Everyone presents • All ideas are good ideas! • Create cartoon concept drawings • No CAD just yet • Discuss various mechanisms • Allocate motors if possible Objective: Create a cartoon sketch of what the robot might look like

18. BCR Design Process 9. Determine Effectiveness of Concepts • Evaluate each design for each task • Assign a value • 0 = cannot perform task • 1 = performs the task poorly • 3 = performs the task adequately • 5 = performs the task exceptionally • Values are relative to the design concepts • A design may perform something very well, but if there is another concept that performs the task significantly better, then the two concepts should have different values. Objective: Fill in the QFD Matrix

19. BCR Design Process 10. Determine Top Concepts • Determine the overall effectiveness of the proposed designs Objective: Calculate the importance of the design features and prioritize

20. BCR Design Process 11. Determine Effectiveness of Concepts • Place the top concepts on the wall and discuss further possibilities • Any new ideas to expand the concept? • What strategies would defeat this concept? • How might you prevent such strategies from happening? • How feasible is the concept? • How simple is the concept? Objective: Find flaws in the design

21. Questions & Answers